Archive for January, 2010

I must admit, I didn’t make it to the gym as planned on Monday morning. I’m okay with it though, I’m still getting into the swing of things with my classes and figuring out the timing on getting to campus and such. It’s crazy, but I have to leave over an hour early to get there, park, and get to class on time! So, I don’t really gain that much time in the mornings with starting class later than work. I did do my planned NROLW workout on Monday night with my mom. We are on the 3rd week of stage 4 and did the B workout. I am really excited that we start the next stage next week! Although, I have gotten used to these rather short routines for this stage. It was definitely a treat after the loooong workouts in stage 3.

My run Tuesday was abbreviated from the plan. It was supposed to be 3 miles, then 2×2:00, 2×3:00, 2×4:00 aerobic intervals, then another 2 miles. I only did about 3 miles total, starting with a 1 mile warmup, then 2×2:00, 2×3:00, and 1×4:00 and then running till 3 miles and then cooldown. I had to drop Suli, my kitty, off at the vet Tuesday evening for her teeth to be cleaned on Wednesday and I had to drop my car off at the shop because it’s been acting up lately. Needless to say, it was a rather hectic evening and Curtis and I didn’t get to the gym till late (around 8 PM), so we didn’t want to do very long runs.

Again, tonight was somewhat hectic since we had to pick up both cat and car after their time at the vet and the shop. Both are doing ok. Suli is recovering nicely although still a little glassy eyed and definitely annoyed by Tara following her around wondering where she’s been. Poor kitty! She’s only 8 pounds, but she’s a pistol and I think she gave the vet techs quite a hassle when they were trying to remove her catheter before going home. Anyways, I decided I would do my next lifting session on Friday morning before class. Then it’s off for a weekend of skiing for me!

I have gotten a little off-track with my training plan, but I’m hoping by tomorrow I can get back to normal. Curtis was away at the end of last week and over the weekend, so my schedule was a little helter skelter from that, not to mention my classes started on Wednesday, so I had to adjust to that as well. I intended to run fairly early on Friday, either in the morning or right after class, but it didn’t work out. I slept in and had forgotten a friend was coming over after class. After she left, I ended up reading for awhile and then falling asleep for a couple of hours. By the time I woke up, it was 5:00 PM! I decided to go to the gym and run on the treadmill. I did 5 miles then 4 pickups for a total of 5.95 miles with the walking and cooldown included. The pickups were done for 30 seconds each at 9 mph. I did not run on Saturday because again I fell asleep in the afternoon when I planned to run and by the time I woke up it was dark and since my gym closes early, I decided to forego it.

Today, I had a 10K course plotted out and brought along a cue sheet with me so I could do my practice 10K. Unfortunately, one of the turns did not seem to exist. I think what I had seen on the map appeared to be an intersection, but was not. I ended up just backtracking and picking some trail routes that I hadn’t run before and tried to make up the lost distance. Around the point I hit the dead-end, I also lost my cue sheet. I figured I’d just try to guess-timate 6.2 miles. I felt pretty good throughout the whole run, never got tired or winded so I think my pace was pretty good. I forgot to put on my watch though, so I have no idea what that pace was! Clearly, I was a very disorganized runner today. It turns out, the course I ran was 6.14 miles, so pretty close to the 10K I was aiming for!

Tomorrow I’m going to attempt to get my act together and run in the morning since it’s just a short recovery run.

I made myself one of Susan’s breakfast cookies for tomorrow to get back on track with my nutrition. I need to go grocery shopping, though, so I don’t have snacks or lunch packed yet. I’m still trying to figure out what to do about those for tomorrow.

I almost broke my oath to post tonight! I decided that since I lifted AND ran yesterday, I could take today off from training and do my run tomorrow instead. Especially since I am not working and only have one class. Instead I spent the evening at my friend’s place to let our dogs play and get some energy out. If I had the amount of energy that Tara has…wow! I don’t even know what I would do! They wrestled and ran around the apartment for about 3 hours (not to mention she had spent an hour running around at the dog park beforehand!). Needless to say, I am just now (10:30) getting home and in bed and realized I haven’t yet updated the blog today. But here I am, and I’m going to attempt to summarize my training since my last workout update….

Friday – NROLW Stage 4 workout A

Saturday – Unintentional day off

Sunday – 7.2 mile run (treadmill)

Monday – NROLW Stage 4 workout B

Tuesday – Unintentional day off

Wednesday – NROLW Stage 4 workout A and 6.4 mile run

Thursday – Day off

Since this weekend is a relatively easy weekend, I figured it would be ok to do three days in a row of running if I do my workout in the morning tomorrow and afternoon/evening on Saturday and Sunday. The plan calls for doing a 10K Saturday, but I was unable to find one back when I looked a few weeks ago. I may try and find one tomorrow, or I’ll just run a 10K route against myself. I’ve never run a 10K outside of the triathlon before, so I’d be curious to see how I did in a race. Maybe I’ll try and find one on another weekend coming up.

By the way, this may be too much information, but I’m not going to be posting heart rate stats for the next few workouts at least. My chest strap has been cutting into my chest and it’s quite painful! I don’t really notice it when I’m actually working out, but afterward it stings really badly. I’m hoping once it heals, I can figure out an arrangement that doesn’t cause any sores.

I mentioned in my super-short post yesterday that I’ve had a horrible eating week, and I have! It’s been horrendous. Even though I don’t talk about it often, proper nutrition is very important to me. I try to eat intuitively, but keep my calories within the “enough but not too many” category, keep macronutrient ratios fairly stable, and eat as many fresh and whole foods as possible. This week was a throwback to my pre-triathlon days of snacking without purpose and eating mindlessly. I think this is mostly due to the fairly extreme schedule change, which I’m going to have to learn to work around. Now that I’m taking classes, I no longer am able to cook oats at work every morning for breakfast and lunch is going to have to be on-the-run most days. This weekend, I’m going to take some time to figure out a new plan for eating around my schedule for this semester. I forget how much it throws me to not have a good food schedule in place for myself. I think something like this might work:

@wakeup – breakfast

@ 10:25 – small snack on the go

@12:00 noon – lunch

@ 3:00 – afternoon snack/pre-workout

@ 6:30 – post-workout snack

@ 8:00 – dinner

I’m probably going to have to throw that out the window, but it might be a good start. 🙂

I solemnly swear to do a complete post tomorrow. My plan was to get caught up tonight, but it’s already 10:15 and I have a 7:30 AM class tomorrow, so I am going to bed. Don’t worry, even though I haven’t been posting regularly, I’m still training! I need to get my nutrition (i.e. eating habits!) under control though, this week I have made some really poor choices and my fitness is suffering as a result. More tomorrow…

I ended up taking yesterday (Wednesday) off from working out/training. Even though I had a half-day of work, I was busy in the morning taking down Christmas decorations and getting the house cleaned, which it desperately needed! In the evening, my friend from high school came by to hang out. I hadn’t seen her in a few months, and she is expecting her first baby in March, so it was really fun to see her “baby bump” and catch up. I figure I can move my weight-lifting that was scheduled to Friday and skip my day off. I don’t have to work on Fridays anymore, so I should have time for it, although I do have a lot of other things planned for the day as well. I’m going to get my school books and parking pass and student ID taken care of and have to get Suli, my cat, to the vet for a check-up. Tara will probably come along for the ride too.

Today, I took Tara for a run before going to work, it was supposed to be 5-6 miles, including 4x 1:30 aerobic intervals and 6 gentle pickups. I did 5.1 miles, including 4x 1:30 aerobic intervals and only 4 gentle pickups because I forgot to double check the workout before I left and couldn’t remember how many pickups to do. I should mention that I’ve been doing the pickups as part of the total mileage if there is an “including”, but I’m not sure whether that’s right. I think they might be additional after the 5-6 miles. Anyone know? (Amy?) Regardless, it was a good run and the weather was fantastic today. My phone said it was only 20 degrees when I started, but I’m pretty sure it was warmer than that. I wore my Nike running pants, a light long-sleeved jersey-type shirt and a light shell over that and was very comfortable. Oh, and I wore running gloves and my headband as well. I’m expecting to run outside for my weekend runs, as it’s supposed to get up to 50 degrees! It’s a heat wave!

Heart Rate Stats:

Duration – 1:06:17

Maximum Heart Rate – 193

Average Heart Rate – 154

Calories – 613

My time was pretty slow for the distance, but that always happens when I take Tara. We usually have to make a couple of stops for her in the first mile or so. Then this time also included walking recoveries between the pickups, so that adds time too.

By the way, I am LOVING my new Mizuno running shoes. I have had zero problems with my arches whatsoever, and they are very light and comfortable for long runs. Today, I realized I passed the 3 mile mark and my feet didn’t hurt, and it was fantastic! The fitting at the local running store really paid off. They actually have a treadmill setup with a video camera filming your feet from behind. You can view your gait while you’re actually on the treadmill and see where you fall as far as pronation vs. supination. I actually slightly overpronate when I walk, but when I run my gait self-corrects and the overpronation disappears. It was pretty cool to see and I was happy because the woman doing my fitting commented that I have a “really nice gait”. She determined that I should try a shoe with light stability, but I probably didn’t need too much extra cushioning. I tried on several pairs of shoes and walked/ran around the store and on the treadmill with them. It came down to the Mizunos and a pair of Nikes. There really was no competition though, I knew from the beginning the Mizunos were right for me. I love the lightness of them and they just fit my feet really well. So far, with 20+ miles on them already, I think they’re a winner. And I am very pleased with the expertise and helpfulness of the folks at the running store. I will be returning! Sorry if some of this is a repeat of earlier post, but I just really love my new shoes!

After spending the weekend skiing in 6 degrees Fahrenheit, I figured I should be able to suffer through a run in 32 degrees. So, when I got home from work today I bundled up in my running gear (UnderArmour Cold Gear tights and long sleeved mock turtle neck as a base layer, running pants and a light weight long-sleeved shirt, running gloves and a hat), grabbed the dog and headed out for my training run. Tonight’s plan called for 3 miles, followed by 3 x [2:00, 2:30] aerobic intervals, and then another 2 miles. The whole run would be a little too long for the dog, so I figured out a route where I could swing back by the house after about 3.5 miles and drop her off before completing my run. I was amazed and glad to find that there was still a little daylight after finishing this first segment. It was also about this time that I realized my plan was a bit backwards and I should have picked up the dog towards the end of my run instead of taking her at the beginning so she was with me for the dark and scary parts.

I live in a really very safe area, but that doesn’t stop me from being a little nervous about running around after dark by myself. I stay on sidewalks near very populated roads and areas, but it does make me feel safer to have a 70 lbs German Shepherd Dog with me when I’m out at night! Granted, I have no idea what she would do if something were to happen, but just her presence is enough for me!

I started my aerobic intervals immediately as I left the house, and I think I may have accidentally missed one, but for the most part they went well. I had to dodge some piles of snow and run in the grass a bit. Overall though, I would say that my first outdoor run of the new year was pretty successful.

I’m back! That skiing trip took up a lot of my blog time. I didn’t end up running on Thursday or Sunday as called for by my plan. Thursday I had plans in the evening and had to pack for skiing, so I just never got around to it. Sunday, I spent the day skiing and then we had to travel home and didn’t get back until around 10 pm. We did ski both Saturday and Sunday, though. It was really cold both days, single digits and teens and snowing. Luckily, we were well-prepared for the below-freezing temperatures and were dressed appropriately. I only had issues with my fingers and toes getting cold, mostly just my fingers.

Tonight, it was back to my regularly scheduled weight training, which was workout B of stage 4.

Does downhill skiing count for cross-training this weekend? We just found out that we have the opportunity to go to Timberline in West Virginia for the weekend and stay for free. Since Curtis and I both LOVE to ski, and they’re getting decent snow this week, we could not pass it up. Needless to say, I will not be doing my planned 8 mile run on Sunday. And, I believe I set it as a goal to take my actual rest and cross training and not try to squeeze in extra workouts this year, so I am not even going to try and move it somewhere else! Crazy, I know. I guess I’m going to fail at my 3-4 runs per week goal for this week, but I’m honestly not too worried about it. My training has been stellar, and I can’t let it get in the way of my life! Can you tell I’m super-excited?! We had limited ski time last year because we were saving vacation days for the wedding and didn’t have the opportunity to go on the weekend other than once (due to wedding planning activities). It’ll be nice to get out on the slopes and have some downtime. I’m really really interested to see if my increased leg strength from all my strength training, running and biking will impact my abilities. I’m betting yes, but not sure since it’s not really specific and it’s been a year since I’ve been. I’m planning to wear my heart rate monitor this weekend to see what the numbers are.

Anyways…back to your regularly scheduled program!

I went to mom’s tonight to do the first workout (A) of Stage 4 of NROLW, which is actually a throwback to Stage 2 with slightly different sets/reps/rest. In this stage, there is the option of doing 2 or 3 sets. Tonight I only did 2 because I wanted to finish quickly, but I think I’ll alternate between 2 and 3 every other week (if I say it here I’m obligated to do it, right?). Here’s the workout:

It was nice to workout with mom today, instead of fighting the testosterone-ful men at the gym for equipment. Usually, I’m the only female anywhere near the free weights at the gym (other than the odd personal trainer working with a male client). One night I was there, I actually counted 17+ men (I think there were more that were hidden behind columns/equipment) on the floor and I was the only woman. The other gym that I used to go to had more female lifters, but still not many. I wish more women would join the weight-lifting ranks and take control of the weight room. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the men socialize just as much (if not more!) than women at my gym. One guy even told me he had been there for 3 hours and probably only worked out for about 30 minutes because he had been talking. Who has time for that?

Quick post tonight because I want to get to bed at a reasonable hour. Tonight was a 4 mile run with 5 minutes total uphill time (TUT). I almost decided to run outside, but by the time I got home from work it was very cold and mostly dark. I wimped out and went for a treadmill run. I did a mix of speed change and incline changes over distance and time, so there’s no easy way to write it out. For the record, I did 5:00 at 2% incline for my TUT, the first mile was at 1% and the rest of the run at 0%. I did a mile, then the TUT all at 5.5 mph, followed by increasing to 6.0 mph and decreasing back to 5.5 mph. Not a very exciting run, but I do get to add miles to my ticker!

Stats:

Duration – 42:50

Max Heart Rate – 182

Average Heart Rate – 172

Calories – 483

Oh, and a quick update on my training plan is that at this time, I’m not going to try to incorporate the Training Bible planning principles into the current plan. It was getting too complicated and time-consuming. So, for this round I’m just going to follow what I have and maybe next year I’ll sit down and work out my own plan. (I think I said that last year too).

Another random side note- I noticed today that my “About” page is mostly out of date, so I’ll be updating that in the near future.

Well, I forgot that I set a goal to write this months goals by Thursday or Friday last week. Better late than never! Before this month’s goals, though, I want to recap my yearly goals. I realized that I never organized them in an easy to read list in my post, so they may be hard to find later on.
1. Set monthly goals on the first of every month and check-in on progress on the last day of every month.
2. Complete a half-Ironman triathlon (signed up for Ironman 70.3 Timberman on August 22, 2010).
3. Complete 2 sprint or Olympic distance triathlons as part of the Virginia Triathlon Series.
4. Do a half-marathon (signed up for the Charlottesville half-Marathon on April 17, 2010).
5. Complete one training run of 20 miles.
6. Try one new workout class at the gym for a month.

I actually am having a bit of a hard time coming up with my goals for January. I think it’s because I’ve spent so much time these past few days thinking about the “big picture” for my fitness goals this year. Here goes…
1. Run a total of 80 miles by the end of the month.
2. Run 3-4 times per week, no more and no less.
3. Use my new bike trainer at least twice.
4. Join a local running or triathlon club, or both.

A note about the last goal- our area has both active Runners club and Triathlon club, both of which I’ve considered joining in the past. The running club does weekend runs on both Saturdays (~5 miles) and Sundays (~10 miles). Curtis and I ran with them once a couple of months ago on a Saturday. I’ve never done anything with the triathlon club, but I’ve been lurking on their email listserv for about a year now. They don’t seem to have a ton of organized training activities, but I am thinking about joining for the camaraderie and in hopes of finding some training partners. When I was in school (high school and college), I was part of a number of different clubs and groups, but for some reason, I have quite the mental block about it these days. I am going to overcome that this month and take the leap.

In training today, I did NROLW Stage 3 workout B. This is the last workout for Stage 3 and Wednesday starts Stage 4!